Neglectful

I haven't blogged in eons.  Sorry ya'll!  I'm just busy around here, you know, applying for schools in China, trying to figure out if my car can be shipped to China, trying to figure out where we want to live, how to do diplomatic passports and visas, yadda yadda!  We have also been lucky enough to have visits from my family and Chris' family.  The end of January sounded rather far away when we first found out our posting, but when you start to think about the dazzling amount of stuff that should be done before we leave the country it becomes clear that time is short.  My kids have to actually apply and be accepted to the school in Beijing.  This involves a slew of teacher recommendations and years of school paperwork and other types of documentation.  I'm also finding us a dentist, pediatrician and all of the other good stuff that we need.  I'd like to start our journey to China with clean teeth and good health.

We are continuing to explore the DC area as much as humanly possible.  We head downtown frequently to see the Smithsonian museums, the monuments, the National Gallery of Art.  Oh, and the Madame Tussaud's wax museum because we are classy like that. Falls Church abounds with lots of fabulous restaurants. Now we've all eaten dim sum, Ethiopian food, pizza, Lebanese food, Vietnamese food, sushi and other good stuff.  My kids all like Chinese food, which is definitely a step in the right direction since we will be eating plenty of it soon.  Outside of the area, we've gone to Mount Vernon, an apple orchard to pick apples and to the Gettysburg battlefield.  The beautiful fall weather and amazing foliage definitely adds to the experience.  We all feel lucky to live here for several months before heading out.

I think we all feel a mixture of terror and anxiety and excitement when contemplating our upcoming journey to China.  We checked out about 15 books on China so we can learn more about its culture and history.  The Great Wall is on all of our to-do lists.  The kids want to venture to Hong Kong and Shanghai. I really really want to take the Trans-Siberian railway from Beijing to Ulaanbataar.  If you remember, I have a bit of an obsession with visiting Mongolia.  It is a 30-hour journey, but honestly, who on earth can say they have done that?  I mean, it has sleeping cars.  The kids will sleep for at least 15 hours or so (ha).  And it has dining cars that change from Chinese to Mongolian.  They can spend time eating also.  And playing, um, card games and looking at the scenery....It will be great!

It definitely isn't all fun and games though. The logistics of getting there are daunting.  Moving the diplocats about involves tons of red tape and money, moving the car (which is apparently a smidgeon too big for the state department's current regulations) is also time-consuming and expensive.  We also have to get about a zillion passports and visas that involve 500 small photos and pages of paperwork.  Oh, and we need to deal with moving companies (yet again) to pack up our temporary stuff here and to decide which boxes of stuff in storage we want to take to China.  I'm confident all will work out, but believe me, 3 months doesn't seem nearly long enough most days:)  Tomorrow we are trying to get the diplomat passports. Wish us luck.  It should be quite a day!